According to the President of France, the agreement “needs to be renegotiated from scratch”; Lula is in favor
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who is in Brazil, said this Wednesday (27 March 2024) that he does not defend the agreement between Mercosur (Southern Common Market) and the EU (European Union). He classified the hit between the 2 blocks as “terrible”. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is in favor.
According to Macron, the current agreement has been negotiated for more than 20 years and has not been updated to include, for example, issues such as climate. For him, the agreement “needs to be renegotiated from scratch”.
“Mercosur is a terrible agreement as it is being negotiated now. This agreement was negotiated 20 years ago. I do not support this agreement. It’s not what we want”he said. “Let us put aside an agreement from 20 years ago and build a new, more responsible agreement, providing for issues such as climate and reciprocity”he stated.
The President of France participated this Wednesday (27th March) in the Brazil-France Economic Forum, held at Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), in the capital of São Paulo.
This is the first of Macron’s commitments in São Paulo, after having participated, on the morning of this Wednesday (27th March), in an event in the city of Itaguaí, in Rio de Janeiro.
REMEMBER MACRON’S SPEECHES ABOUT THE AGREEMENT
Macron has repeatedly highlighted that the agreement does not serve French interests. The French leader and the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), have already faced different clashes on the topic.
Macron’s position, however, could put an end to negotiations between the 2 economic blocs, as the agreement requires approval from the 27 EU countries.
Below are some of the main statements made by the 2 presidents about the agreement:
Europeans, especially France, express concern regarding environmental practices in the Brazilian agricultural sector, claiming that they harm the environment in the pursuit of greater productivity.
On the Brazilian side, the demands were treated as “threats”. President Lula also said that the deal was not closed because Brazil did not agree to open government purchases to foreign companies, arguing that they are essential for the growth of small and medium-sized companies.
With information from Agência Brasil.
